Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3-22.
Planning the schedule
As with anything new, the more you practice it, the more proficient at it you will become. Keep in mind that
you can track how accurate you were at planning each solution by comparing what occurred to what you had
planned. An additional benefit to scheduling your project is that your teammates, who may be involved with
other projects as well, can integrate their schedules with yours. In the end you will find that a simple timeline is
easy to create and provides advantages that far outweigh the time it takes to implement.
The IT, Security and Licensing Requirements
As consultants, we have worked with many different companies. Each company has different needs with regard
to IT, security, and licensing. It is important that you consider these requirements when you are creating a BI
solution.
Defining these IT requirements includes (and is not limited to) the following:
•
Network bandwidth
•
Which servers are available
•
The age of the servers
•
he space on the servers
•
The people who maintain these servers
Defining security requirements involves evaluating many factors. Everyone wants their data to be secure, but
what “secure” means to one company is not at all secure to another. If an industry, such as pharmaceuticals, has
governmental regulations, then additional security requirements need to be addressed.
For licensing requirements, there is also a wide range of possible scenarios. One company may have a
blanket license for a lot of different software. Another company may need to purchase their software individually.
It may be advantageous to use software that is flexible or comes bundled with as many features as you require
to complete the project. An example of this is Microsoft SQL Server. With the purchase of SQL Server alone, you
gain a whole suite of BI applications. These applications allow you to build the data warehouse, perform the ETL
process, create cubes, and even create reports. In fact, it could be argued that one of the best reasons to choose
Microsoft SQL Server is that, for many companies, this will be the most effective tool to implement a BI solution.